Congress MP Anto Antony.
Credit: X/@Shuhail_MK
Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress in Kerala is facing embarrassment over activists of Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which has links with banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) distributing sweets to party MP Anto Antony.
It was in connection with SDPI's foundation day that some local leaders of the outfit in Pathanamthitta district called on the MP at his office in the district and distributed sweets.
The incident that took place on June 21 became controversial after SDPI shared it on social media as a video reel.
Antony is trying to justify it by citing that there was no politics in it. The SDPI workers who visited him were people of his constituency and hence he cannot prevent them from coming to his office, he told a section of media.
The incident took place at a time when the CPI(M) and the BJP were criticising the Congress for accepting the support of Welfare Party, which is the political wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, in the recent by-poll to the Nilambur assembly seat.
CPI(M) and BJP allege that the Congress was seeking support of communal forces for electoral gains.
Antony is a four-time MP from Pathanamthitta and was one of the front-runners to the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president post during the recent shake-up in the party in Kerala.